Rapp: When someone ‘butt dials’ you, is it OK to listen?

Hello ….  Hello? …  Hellllllooo! … Anyone there?  

We’ve all gotten “butt” calls.  And probably made a few.

I remember one.  The guy’s butt was at a bar.  After a few too many, his butt called as he was evaluating potential conquests with his barhopping buddies.  Sure, I listened for a while after trying to get the guy’s attention.  The talk was just what you’d imagine.

When someone’s butt calls, is it OK to listen?

Various courts including a federal appeals court hold it’s fine — legally — to listen. It’s not eavesdropping. The person in the federal case receiving the call listened for 91 minutes.  Yikes!

According to the court, “(S)ociety has come to accept the fact that people often place inadvertent calls from their cell phones” and even gave the “technological annoyance” the name of “pocket” or “butt” dialing.   The court continued, “While it may be polite for the recipient to hang up once she discovers she has actually received a pocket dial, it is not reasonable to expect everyone to do so.”

The “bottom” line?  

“If an individual wants to keep his conversations private, the onus is on him to do so,” the court said. It’s unreasonable to “give another person access to his conversation and then put the burden on that individual to determine that she should take no part in it.”

Not all butt calls are just annoying.  

According to Wikipedia, as many as half of emergency calls may be accidental calls.  Of course, there can be some good as was the 911 butt call leading to the bust of an operating meth lab in Florida.

Could be a good idea to consider ways to stop pocket dialing.  Articles abound.  

An article in Wired Magazine suggests locking one’s screen, turning off auto-wake and allowing the phone to auto-lock quickly.  

Might be wise to give Siri or Google Assist the day off too, or ask for help to stop pocket dialing.

Jim Rapp is a Quincy attorney.  He is a founding partner of Muddy River News LLC.